Il-modalità epistemika fil-Malti : analizi ta' xi espressjonijiet verbali

Abstract

This work is concerned with the semantic and grammatical properties of a number of lexical epistemic verbs in Maltese such as ħaseb, emmen and immaġina. It is shown how their modal meaning is based on two essentially related values: the epistemic and the evidential, that is, on the degree of confidence and the type and force of evidence that they express. The verbs are analyzed in the first person singular of the imperfective in terms of their lexical meaning, the possible syntactic positions, and the possibility or impossibility of having pronominal clitics added to them. The work also analyzes the relationship of these verbs to the grammatical categories of person, tense, aspect and the negative, so that we can compare not only one verb with another, but also two or more forms of the same verb. This study shows that despite having the same basic function, that is, expressing the commitment of the speaker or the subject towards the truth of the proposition, these verbs form quite a heterogeneous group. This diversity is attributed to the differences in lexical meaning, which then determine both the contexts in which these verbs are used as well as their grammatical behaviour.